Earlier today Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a compelling piece on how, despite the ire of Packers fans, Ted Thompson has stuck with his rigid draft-and-develop approach in replenishing the roster. Thompson rarely signs big-name free agents. He doesn't trade for veteran players when injuries diminish the depth chart. He holds on

Ted will bring in guys. Thing is, he doesn't always have to. Suddenly guys like Sam Shields, Dez Moses, Barclay and Boykin step up and show they can play. Even Eric Walden was serviceable to some degree.

The guy is prudent as hell. Wow. What a tough make-up he has to consistently stick with his guys, and watch them develop under the guidance of his HC.

I would say one of the biggest case in points here may be Mike Daniels. Undersized player coming out of Iowa last year. Definitely had a motor last season, but maybe lacked some of the size and strength to make a big, consistent impact on the DL. What a difference a year makes.

This offseason, I wanted us to sign a bona fide 3-4 DT/DE and a legit power running back in FA. The chips fell our way in perfect fashion this draft in handing us Eddie Lacy. Mike Daniels is looking to be that other player. Datone Jones, while good, looks to be suffering some of the same things Daniels did last season as a rookie. I suspect both Daniels and Jones will be a major force next season, as they further develop. Daniels already is far surpassing any expectations I had of him. He is turning out to be a remarkable player on our DL.

Most recently, I was dreaming that maybe, maybe we could work a trade to land Larry Fitzgerald. Imagine what that might have done for our offense… However, Ted stuck to his guns, and maybe his magic 8 ball foretells of Jones and Cobb returning healthy enough to make a real impact through the end of the season and into the playoffs. Fitzgerald would have been a monster contract to fit into our system. Boykin is getting enormously valuable experience right now, and could prove to be a player who opposing defenses will overlook after the return of Jones and Cobb. Boykin could prove to be a real difference maker in the end, and all of this experience in true development is making him a great value to the Packers. A Fitzgerald signing could have tipped the scales the other direction.

Ted has some stones, and this is all looking to be pretty positive as we head into the meat of our schedule, leading the Black & Blue Division. I like it. Talk about a Steward of your team. Wow. My apologies for the run-on, but there is so much good to this topic. One last thing, take a look at the character of this team, the players as people and community members. Man! Has he given us a good group. Hopefully they can help us realize the dream of another Lombardi Trophy for the case this year! Thank you Ted!

Fans always want their team to win the offseason and Ted loses every offseason. That is always going to cause some distress and there's really no way around it I guess. The fact is though it's extremely difficult to be a top team every year because there is so much that could go wrong. Look at the Giants/Steelers/Falcons this year or the Saints last year. We have been lucky so far that we get to see our team compete every single year and play meaningful football in December/January.

Ted will bring in guys. Thing is, he doesn't always have to. Suddenly guys like Sam Shields, Dez Moses, Barclay and Boykin step up and show they can play. Even Eric Walden was serviceable to some degree.

Ryan Pickett & Charles Woodson 7 years ago great moves. Congratulations to Ted. This is what I am talking about.But since then- nothing. Nothing of real significance in 7 years.

Marquand Manual also 7 years ago and was not good enough to stick for more than a year.Koren Robinson, 7 years ago. (are you seeing a pattern here?) Didn't really contribute much.

Anthony Smith. your kidding right? Are you talking about the first time he was almost on the team but didn't make it through the month of September before being released or the 2nd time when the team was decimated in the secondary and ted brought him back but he still wasn't good enough to contribute and mercifully for all he was placed on IR?

Ted's mo is not to go after high profile FA not to look at the second level of FA but to look at the third level and if one of them sticks fine and if not he didn't waste a position on them or very much money. If you are always looking in the dollar store bargain bin you won't find many players of quality there.

And I am ok with that. They win games every year. They don't disrupt the cap that way. That is what people want and that is what they get.

A lot of people don't like to count FA like James Jones and Brad Jones but if we had say let James Jones walk that year and Ted signed some other teams WR who came in and led the NFL in TDs for us we would all be like WOOOO WHAT A GREAT FA SIGNING SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!

A lot of people don't like to count FA like James Jones and Brad Jones but if we had say let James Jones walk that year and Ted signed some other teams WR who came in and led the NFL in TDs for us we would all be like WOOOO WHAT A GREAT FA SIGNING SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!

I have no problem with resigning current players. It is a good move on Ted's part to do so.

Ryan Pickett & Charles Woodson 7 years ago great moves. Congratulations to Ted. This is what I am talking about.But since then- nothing. Nothing of real significance in 7 years.

Marquand Manual also 7 years ago and was not good enough to stick for more than a year.Koren Robinson, 7 years ago. (are you seeing a pattern here?) Didn't really contribute much.

Anthony Smith. your kidding right? Are you talking about the first time he was almost on the team but didn't make it through the month of September before being released or the 2nd time when the team was decimated in the secondary and ted brought him back but he still wasn't good enough to contribute and mercifully for all he was placed on IR?

Ted's mo is not to go after high profile FA not to look at the second level of FA but to look at the third level and if one of them sticks fine and if not he didn't waste a position on them or very much money. If you are always looking in the dollar store bargain bin you won't find many players of quality there.

And I am ok with that. They win games every year. They don't disrupt the cap that way. That is what people want and that is what they get.

Yes, most of these were 7 years ago. However, thanks to Ted, our team has much more depth now. We don't need to look elsewhere. Like the other poster said, Ted signs his own guys too. People don't count those as free agents.

And btw Howard Green was a pretty good signing in '10, no? What about DuJuan Harris in '12?

I have no problem with resigning current players. It is a good move on Ted's part to do so.

My point is he doesn't get as much credit for those moves as people would give him if they were players with different names even though the signings are essentially the same thing. James Jones was an unrestricted on the open market Free Agent just like Woodson and Pickett were.

My point is he doesn't get as much credit for those moves as people would give him if they were players with different names even though the signings are essentially the same thing. James Jones was an unrestricted on the open market Free Agent just like Woodson and Pickett were.

I know what you are saying and I try to give him credit for those kinds of moves. Letting James hit the market and then resigning him afterward saved money. Aaron and CM3 now fall into the class of current players that he resigned. Great moves. To sign Rodgers for the big bucks and not bust the cap was amazing.

I like the home grown talent. I actually prefer it. I have said it a lot of times I don't mind it if Ted doesn't get a mega FA ever. I don't need him to pick up a high profile player even at a reasonable cost each and every year but I have to wonder if the team would be a little better if he got a Pickett like player every 3 years or so. A little more veteran leadership to meld with the youngsters. Having only 3 out of 53 players is a bit extreme in the other direction.

I know what you are saying and I try to give him credit for those kinds of moves. Letting James hit the market and then resigning him afterward saved money. Aaron and CM3 now fall into the class of current players that he resigned. Great moves. To sign Rodgers for the big bucks and not bust the cap was amazing.

I like the home grown talent. I actually prefer it. I have said it a lot of times I don't mind it if Ted doesn't get a mega FA ever. I don't need him to pick up a high profile player even at a reasonable cost each and every year but I have to wonder if the team would be a little better if he got a Pickett like player every 3 years or so. A little more veteran leadership to meld with the youngsters. Having only 3 out of 53 players is a bit extreme in the other direction.

I don't mind seeing FAs or anything if they are worth it but keeping some of our own vets to me is much better than getting someone elses. Ours already know our coaches/systems.

The way I look at FA is that a majority of those guys no matter what you pay them end up being average players for at least some of their contract. Good players to fill a short term hole maybe but nothing worth any significant investment. Maybe it's just my perception but I feel like the only really good looking (youngish/productive/not overpriced) FAs lately have been 4-3 lineman. I can't think of too many 3-4 or secondary players or offensive players and thinking man what a good deal.

The best thing we could have done in FA this last offseason looks like possibly getting a S but I think most of those FAs have been disappointing so in hindsight it doesn't seem too bad (to me anyways). I get excited whenever we do sign FAs and it doesn't make me mad but I don't really care if we don't. Funny thing though, I was a bit disappointed when we didn't land Steven Jackson lol.

I don't mind seeing FAs or anything if they are worth it but keeping some of our own vets to me is much better than getting someone elses. Ours already know our coaches/systems.

The way I look at FA is that a majority of those guys no matter what you pay them end up being average players for at least some of their contract. Good players to fill a short term hole maybe but nothing worth any significant investment. Maybe it's just my perception but I feel like the only really good looking (youngish/productive/not overpriced) FAs lately have been 4-3 lineman. I can't think of too many 3-4 or secondary players or offensive players and thinking man what a good deal.

The best thing we could have done in FA this last offseason looks like possibly getting a S but I think most of those FAs have been disappointing so in hindsight it doesn't seem too bad (to me anyways). I get excited whenever we do sign FAs and it doesn't make me mad but I don't really care if we don't. Funny thing though, I was a bit disappointed when we didn't land Steven Jackson lol.

Not every year will have a player that is worth while. That is why I was saying once every 3 years or so. I know there was a lot of hope and excitement over Jackson but not from me. That GB didn't land him was fine. I was slightly disappointed that GB didn't get Lynch a few years ago. But I realize there is not much you can do when the other team doesn't like your offer or someone else out bids you.

Not every year will have a player that is worth while. That is why I was saying once every 3 years or so. I know there was a lot of hope and excitement over Jackson but not from me. That GB didn't land him was fine. I was slightly disappointed that GB didn't get Lynch a few years ago. But I realize there is not much you can do when the other team doesn't like your offer or someone else out bids you.

Haha the Lynch disappointment didn't last long after the way that season played out [laughing]

I defended Ted Thompson 7 or so years ago when a lot of people were down on him, then when I came to this forum, I was surprised to find the rock-ribbed loyalty to him. The truth is, he has done a lot of things right, and fallen short in a few other areas.

I wholeheartedly agree with the not signing of big name free agents from other teams except for the few exceptions noted. I also strongly agree with the theme of the article: cutting ties when that was needed - he, of course, did a good job of knowing when to open up the treasury too - with Rodgers and Matthews and a few other lesser cases. There will be some really interesting decisions this off-season too - Shields has been great, but the question becomes "how high is up?". If he decides to go for the max, it could take too much money to sign him - and we are, of course, pretty loaded now at Corner. Raji is one guy I really really really hope Ted Thompson does not re-sign - unless the cost is extremely lower than it probably would be. Quality-wise, Raji reminds me of Darryn College - as the article said, mediocre. Finley tops them all as a question mark. Assuming he comes back in a few weeks and resumes playing the way he did before the injury, what then? It will take a helluva lot of money, and even though he showed new-found maturity, and the hands problem seemed to be mostly a thing of the past, both of those things could come up again, not to mention any potential recurrence of the neck thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Ted Thompson does re-sign Finley, but for a lot less than it might have been because other teams are scared off by his situation - either that or there is some kind of wording in the contract to protect the Packers, certainly in the case of the neck.

Obviously Ted Thompson has done great in the lower half of the draft and UDFAs. My gripe, if it even is that, is the high end - but you always have to say "other than Rodgers, Matthews, and maybe now Lacy". Also, bad luck of injuries has been a factor. Still, as I have said, Aaron Rodgers cures a lot of ills. IMO, he - Rodgers - makes the Packers the top 5 or top 3 or absolutely top team that they are, and heaven help us if he went down - I really see weakness in almost every area other than QB. Hopefully we will never have to test that theory - that Ted Thompson has not put together a very good team without Rodgers, but to me, THAT is the bottom line. However, we really do have Aaron Rodgers - Thompson gets the credit - along with the 20 or so teams who did not draft him hahahaha, so let's just enjoy the ride.

A lot of people don't like to count FA like James Jones and Brad Jones but if we had say let James Jones walk that year and Ted signed some other teams WR who came in and led the NFL in TDs for us we would all be like WOOOO WHAT A GREAT FA SIGNING SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!

I said this same thing on the CBS boards a few years ago and at least a half a dozen people responded with "signing your own guys doesn't count" I asked why and explained, like you said in another post, that they were on the open market just like everyone else and a couple responded with " well yeah, maybe but it still doesn't count. I say WHY THE HELL NOT

play2win said:

Datone Jones, while good, looks to be suffering some of the same things Daniels did last season as a rookie. I suspect both Daniels and Jones will be a major force next season, as they further develop.

I agree. Some people seem to think that just because a player is a first round draft choice that he should be a game changer right away. That may be such a realistic expectation for a top 10 guy but Jones was what 26th. You have to give guys a chance to develop and adjust. Not everyone can step in and be a star from day one.

yooperfan said:

I have never been a fan of Ted Thompson and I never will be, but I have to hand it to him for keeping the Green Bay Packers in the upper echelon of the NFL year after year.

I'm just curious as to why you are not a fan. I would think that when a GM who is keeping the Green Bay Packers in the upper echelon of the NFL year after year what is not to be a fan of. I'm also wondering why you never will be a fan. That sounds like something personal. I'm not knocking you for your opinion. Its just that it kind of like saying "I'm not a fan of $100.00 bills and I never will be but they are good for spending"

I'm just curious as to why you are not a fan. I would think that when a GM who is keeping the Green Bay Packers in the upper echelon of the NFL year after year what is not to be a fan of. I'm also wondering why you never will be a fan. That sounds like something personal. I'm not knocking you for your opinion. Its just that it kind of like saying "I'm not a fan of $100.00 bills and I never will be but they are good for spending"

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